It's not about relation, commitment, death, blood or anything like that.
It's about he's dating a stand in. That's douchey. Period.
The character is designed to be a stand in from the ground up. You can't use her without being douchey.

I think you can only read it as douchey if you are douchey. At face value, she may have been a stand in(I don't think so, but we'll go with it), but that doesn't make the feelings that Steve has developed for her over time shallow. He doesn't fall for Sharon because she's Peggy with blonde hair or that she's related to his past love, he falls in love with Sharon for Sharon.

Quote:

Put it this way... your best friend says he's totally over his ex. He brings by a girl who is her spitting image, same job, and is even related to her in some way. Without being able to read minds, do you think he's over his ex or not?

You do what the writers would do; approach it with care and then go with it. It's what makes him happy, so no point making an issue out of it, especially when there's no issue to make.

Quote:

Indeed, only three people on this board see this as something okay. Perhaps if they addressed the arguments given about the emotional subtext, the conversation could move forward.

Actually, only 3 people on this board have an issue with Steve and Sharon. Trust me, I checked. You can do so as well. There was a 4th one, but he's on the fence about it, but if you really want, you can have that 4th one too.

I think you just don't like the character of Sharon and are just biased against her existence.